An 81-year old DeLand resident has lost over $50,000 in an online fraud scheme.

In February, the victim received an email from someone impersonating PayPal thanking them for a purchase they never made. The victim called the 800 number at the bottom of the email where an unknown person convinced them that they had been defrauded and needed to transfer funds into a Coinbase account. The victim was convinced to purchase several $500 gift cards and allow the scammers remote access to their computer so that they could "help" with the accounts. In the following weeks, the victim provided the gift card numbers over the phone and transferred $50,000 of funds from their retirement account into the Coinbase account which the scammers had access to. 

In March, the victim became suspicious and advised their daughter who helped to file reports with the bank to protect the rest of the victim's assets. The DeLand Police Department is working to find out who these scammers are and want to remind people to be cautious of any type of financial transactions such as these that may include the purchase of gift cards or transfer of large sums of money to "remedy" the problem. 

Seniors are often targeted because they tend to be trusting and polite. They also usually have financial savings, own a home, and have good credit—all of which make them attractive to scammers. Additionally, seniors may be less inclined to report fraud because they don’t know how, or they may be too ashamed at having been scammed. More information on elder fraud is available from the FBI here: https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/elder-fraud.